Monday, May 12, 2014

There still just under 57 minutes left in regulation when Marty St. Louis scored, remembering to grab the puck out of the net to give to his father, to set off a raucous celebration at Madison Square Garden.

But it was the biggest highlight as the Rangers, with St. Louis and, it should be fair to note, the whole team, still grieving the sudden loss of his mother, France, on Thursday to a heart attack at age 63, forced a Game 7 against the reeling Penguins with a 3-1 win in Game 6.

“It’s probably one of the cooler things I’ve been a part of in my professional career, the emotion on that goal,” Derek Stepan said. “it’s something I won’t ever forget. What he’s been through the last couple of days, for him to score a goal and the way he did it it’s something I won’t forget for sure.”

Added Marc Staal, “To get a goal like that, at the start like that, with the crowd cheering his name, it’s an unbelievable start to the game. I haven’t heard the crowd that loud in a very long time.”

And said Henrik Lundqvist, “It’s a great moment. I’m so happy for him. It was emotional. I got emotional. I think everyone felt it.”

“Mother’s Day, my dad’s here, my sister’s here,” St. Louis said. “It’s been a tough time for my whole family. To be able to get the lead in the first period, it was a good one.

“I got a pretty good bounce there on the first one, obviously the right place,” St. Louis added. “But you have to work for your bounces. I know she (his mother) helped me through this. It’s a great win by the guys. We played hard. We have to believe and we just have to keep pushing. That’s what we’re doing.”

About

ANDREW GROSS covers the New York Rangers for The Record and Herald News, having joined the North Jersey Media Group in November 2007. Gross also covered the Rangers and New York Jets, as well as St. John’s basketball and Army football, for Gannett Newspapers and The Journal News (N.Y.). He graduated from Syracuse University in 1989 with a degree in newspaper journalism.